


Common Ground

by Azeran



Series: Marvel Slash [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Loki and Bucky have poorly repressed aggression, M/M, Quite willingly too, Sparring, Steve is the voice of reason, They take it out on each other, Tony is freaked out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-11-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 23:20:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2288318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azeran/pseuds/Azeran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Should we be letting them do this? I don’t think we should be letting them do this.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was somewhat inspired by the fight scenes in CATWS. Yeah……that’s about the only explanation I can offer up. Ah…I don’t own Marvel? Or any of these guys? XD;

“Should we be letting them do this? I don’t think we should be letting them do this.” Tony gawked at the two figures across training room, nervously caressing the emergency button on his wristband. It’d alert the whole tower to a possible inner threat in a split second, and all the Avengers would come running. But Steve shrugged it off and gently pushed his hand away. 

“No need. They’re just letting off some steam.” 

Uhuh. “Is that what you call it?” Watching them lash out at each other with flashes of green and silver, he grimaced. “Looks more like they’re trying to kill each other.” Steve smirked, and a look of horror crossed the inventor’s face. “Is that--what the hell Cap?! How is that letting off steam! Look at them!!” With a kind of sick fascination Tony brandished his hand at the two males, who really looked like they were attempting to do each other in. He couldn’t see any other reason why there would be such a level of violence to the fight. Because it was violent. Every swing of that metal arm was vicious and calculated, and every responding slice of those daggers was intended to cut deep, cleave through bone and split muscle. But it was the expressions on their faces that really sealed the deal. Tony had only ever seen such raw emotion during a fight, the stakes piled high against them. “Fuck,” he whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight. “They’re..” 

“I know. But I think this is the only way they know how to express themselves.” Arms crossed over his chest, Steve relaxed against the wall. He didn’t look the least bit bothered by the fact that his recovered best friend was currently bashing their resident god’s head against his knee. For the record, neither did he. Tony was though. Panicking, he pushed forward with every intention of breaking the fight up, but Steve’s hand fell heavily on his shoulder, holding him back. “Take it easy. Everything’s gonna be fine.” 

“How can you say that?! He could kill him!” Tony fought against him, shoving Steve away. By the time he’d freed himself though the two men had already reversed their roles, and the wall received a harsh pounding as Bucky was all but thrown through it, plaster and concrete crumbling to the floor. “Holy shit!” Ok. Sometimes he forgot just how strong Loki actually was. Slightly pale, unaware of the faint tremble to his fingers, Tony backed up beside Steve and tried his best to relax. It wasn’t easy. “Why aren’t you surprised by all this? Did you know?” The weighty pause told him everything he needed. “Right. Let me guess. You’ve been playing mediator?”

Steve nodded. “Something like that.” He held out his water bottle, charitable as always, and Tony took a quick swig, muttering his thanks. “If you’re looking for some time in the ring, you’ll have to wait your turn. Nobody goes in when they’ve got the floor. I tried it, once. Bucky nearly broke my jaw. It was an accident, but I learned to keep out of things until I’m needed.” 

“He nearly broke your--” yeah, alright. Tony could believe that. Those two were in the zone. Neither of them even seemed to realize that someone was watching them fight, much less talking about them. Interrupting really wasn’t the smart thing to do at this point. He’d just have to trust Loki not to…….ok, he’d trust Barnes not…..fuck. “This is a really bad idea.” 

“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s like I told you Tony,” Steve took a drink of water, shrugging one of those broad shoulders. “They need this. And it makes sense, at least strategically. Bucky’s never fought someone who can use magic before, and Loki’s used to enemies like Thor. They all hit first, ask questions later. This way, he can learn to defend himself against different opponents.” He leaned against the wall and followed the fight. As if choreographed to prove his point. Loki was backhanded to the floor and kicked solidly in the ribs, though he dodged an incoming punch with snake-like fluidity and circled behind Bucky in a shimmer of green, evading the metallic fingers that snatched at his shirt. 

Against his better judgment, Tony was impressed. Concerned, yes, but impressed. “Loki’s fought us. You, me; we’re nothing like Thor.” Then again, they weren’t much like Bucky either. He was wicked fast and knew how to throw a punch, especially with that lovely appendage of his. Tony wasn’t sure if there were many who could hold their own against him. But then, Loki wasn’t doing that bad of a job. Actually, he was doing way better than expected. Tony watched him grab the former soldier by his arm and twist him around until a harsh crack of bone breaking sounded throughout the room. Bucky’s resounding scream was a horrifying sound, and Tony flinched. “Ok. I don’t remember Loki fighting like that in the past. He was all dramatic and evil laughter, and secret blades nestled between the ribs.” 

His eyes fixed on the ongoing fight, Steve gave a small frown. “He still has the blades, but Bucky’s been teaching him a few things. More hand to hand combat, since everyone on Asgard apparently fights with weapons.” Bucky slammed his metal elbow into Loki’s neck, a blow that surely would’ve killed a normal human, but barely seemed to phase the god except by driving him down onto the floor face first. At this point Tony could see that the fight had definitely been going on for a while; there was blood trickling slowly down Bucky’s thigh, staining through his grey sweatpants, and that was definitely a cracked rib making Loki wheeze with pain, red spotting his lips and chin. 

“Fuck…” this was gruesome. He didn’t get how they needed this. It was one thing to relieve tension, but they were brutalizing each other! All of the Avengers did combat training, sure, and they all had their specialties, using each other occasionally as test dummies for some new move, or just as a punching bag. Banner and Thor made a particularly good team. But all of them knew better than to keep going when the damages were any worse than a split lip and some bruises. Loki and Bucky….they didn’t seem to give a shit. “You let them do this?” Fumbling for some sense of understanding, Tony turned to his teammate. “Don’t you care that he’s hurt? I thought you and Barnes were-”

“We are. I don’t make his decisions for him, Tony. If Bucky wants to work off some steam with Loki, then that’s up to him.” Steve folded his arms more tightly over his chest and stared at his friend, the blood now marring his workout clothes in crimson rivulets down to the knee, broken arm cradled against his chest. He didn’t look happy about it, but the captain was making no moves to stop them. That said a lot. “Look. I don’t have to approve of what they’re doing, but it makes sense. Bucky doesn’t know how to talk about his problems, and Loki….”

“He’s not the sentimental type. I know.” Boy, did he. It was almost impossible, getting Loki to open up. Tony scowled at said brunette, who was busy rolling onto his side, the one that wasn‘t injured anyway, scrabbling at the floor before Bucky could reach him. The guy was doing a good job of it, despite having to crawl over on his knees and with only one arm to pull himself along. Apparently his wounds were giving him more problems than he let on. So were Loki’s, if his pallid complexion was anything to go by. “….I guess I never pictured him as the kind of guy to punch things to make himself feel better,” Tony mumbled, resisting every urge to go over and help him. “That seems more Thor’s speed.” 

“Usually it is.” To be fair, Steve was resisting his own urges. He just hid his better. “I guess we all have those moments when we just need to let go, throw a punch or two.” Bucky was halfway over to Loki, struggling hard. Neither one of them was doing all that great though, which said a lot in terms of how seriously they took their sparring. It was kind of scary, were Tony to be honest. “Look Tony, I can’t speak for Loki. I don’t know why he does this,” Steve shook his head, sighing. “But it’s their choice. If beating each other up is their common ground, we have no right to interfere. Bucky and Loki know their own limits. They won’t take things too far.” 

Yeah right. That explained the broken bones. Tony blankly glared at Steve, but was snapped out of his stupor by a shout of pain and Bucky’s furious groan. He’d successfully crawled his way over to the god and had his hand wrapped around Loki’s throat, a metallic snap locking his fingers together. That was the final straw. Tony could handle a lot of things, but the sight of his lover getting throttled stirred up one too many panicky feelings inside him, and he didn’t fucking like it. No one did that to Loki. No one! “This isn’t happening. Enough’s enough,” Tony growled, making his way towards the two. He might have made it too, if Steve hadn’t fisted his wife beater and dragged him back. “Dammit Rogers, let go! Your boyfriend--!”

“Bucky isn’t just teaching him, Tony. He’s learning too.” The knife suddenly thrust into his shoulder made that pretty damn obvious, and Tony jumped at Bucky’s roar of pain, a heavy thump following his body getting thrown off Loki and splattered across the floor on his back. Neither of them made any move to get up after that; Loki was breathing even more shallowly as he trembled and muttered something to the fallen soldier, rasps of pain staggering every other syllable. Whatever Bucky said back, it made the two of them smile, chuckling permeating the silent room. 

Tony was less than amused. “Are they actually laughing? Steve?” When the blond didn’t respond, he had to absolve himself to the fact that yes, they were laughing, and rather cheerfully. “Ok, this is weird. Really fucking weird. Can we go peel them off the floor now please? Maybe you’re ok with your boyfriend bleeding out on my floor, but I’m not.” Which he was. There was a small puddle beneath the right side of Loki’s body, blood soaking his thin t-shirt. The broken rib had punctured skin then. That was bad. Very bad. Tony struggled to free himself, pushing at Steve’s arm. “Goddammit Rogers, c’mon!”

“They won’t appreciate us interfering yet, Tony. Trust me.” Keeping a firm grip on him, Steve pointedly looked at the two. “Better yet, trust them.”

Despite his fear, Tony followed the captain’s gaze. They’d stopped laughing already, and it looked like Loki was trying to pick himself up, tangles of black falling over his face and obscuring his vibrant green eyes. It took several attempts, and a few times Tony was sure he wasn’t going to make it, but the trickster finally managed it and weakly extended a bloodstained hand to Bucky. So this was peace then. He couldn’t hear what passed between them, but Bucky accepted the helping hand and let Loki pull him to his feet. They looked terrible. Bucky’s broken arm was limp and dangling by his side, and Loki was hunching, a steadfast hand pressed to his side. The both of them were covered in blood and sweat to the point of ridiculousness. One person shouldn’t be able to lose that much blood, dammit. It was unnatural. But then, neither guy was natural, were they? One formerly brainwashed assassin and a Norse god….yeah. On second thought, this made sense after all. “Do you ever stop and think about the type of people we’re dating,” he muttered at Steve, who finally let him go and grabbed his duffel bag off the floor, slinging the strap over his shoulder. 

“Honestly? All the damn time.” He said it with a smile, walking towards the two battered men. Tony hesitated about a second before following, assessing their idiots. Loki was leaning heavily on Bucky, relying on him to keep himself aloft, and it looked like Bucky was about to pass out, or worse. How he wasn’t was a total mystery to Tony. It might have had something to do with the fact that his boyfriend was doing his hocus pocus on them both, green sparking around his free hand, but hey, the fact that they were standing at all was impressive. “Loki usually repairs most of the damage with his magic before they hit the showers, depending on how bad off they are,” Steve explained in a hushed voice, one that grew softer when a set of icy blue eyes fell on him, watching him approach. “But something tells me some extra care couldn’t hurt this time around.”

“Understatement of the century. They look like hell.” 

Steve reached them first, but Tony was quick to keep up, immediately going to Loki and sliding him off Bucky’s arm, which was protectively wrapped around his waist. For a moment Tony wasn‘t sure whether he was going to let go, something dark and fearless in those pale eyes, but a few whispered words from Steve had Bucky pulling away and moving into the supportive network of the man’s arms. An act Loki repeated with him, a gasp of pain dusking his lips when Tony shifted him closer and kissed the spot behind his ear. “I think you and I are way overdue for a little chat.”

Loki laughed through his pain, falling more heavily against his side. “It’s lovely to see you too, Anthony. Might we hold off the interrogation till later? Barnes is still in possession of a broken arm, and I fear at least three of my ribs are shattered, if not more. Unless you wish to use my agony to your advantage? It does make for wonderful persuasion..”

“You’re fucked in the head babe.” It was said with no less affection, but Tony staggered his kisses across the trickster’s shoulder and peeked at Steve, who was in the same position as him, except Bucky was pretty much using him as a lifeboat, holding on tight with his metal fingers tangled in blond hair, his gaze trained on Loki. Something must have passed between them that Tony couldn’t see, because the former assassin smirked. It was the lightest twitch of his lips, nothing more, but that was more than enough to make him suspicious. “Fuck it. Lets get these two idiots to the medical bay. I want to run some diagnostic scans, make sure they didn’t go overboard.” Tony carefully hoisted the brunette into his arms, despite his mumbled complaints. “When you can talk without a slur, I’ll let you make the decisions. For now, your sorry ass is going upstairs.” More than aware of how his lover’s fern peeled open and fixated on Bucky, Tony groaned. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. He’s coming too. Right Rogers?” 

Busy making sure said man wasn’t about to collapse, Steve frowned. “Loki isn’t finished healing him, Tony. Or himself.” 

“I kind of realized that, but thanks for the reminder. He can do it in the medical bay. From his bed, where his stubborn ass will be confined the rest of the night. Barnes too, unless you want to take him back to your room.” Tony could see the arguments already taking shape, and he silenced them with a firm look at his lover. “If there have to be straps involved, so be it. I’m willing to pay that price.”

He wasn’t expecting giggling as a response, but there it was. Whatever. Gods were crazy. Genetically altered soldiers too, by the looks of it. “As you will it,” Loki relaxed in his arms, gesturing with a limp hand towards Steve’s lover. “So long as James rests in the bed beside mine. I’ll need company during my confinement.” 

“What, I’m not enough for you anymore? Shit Loki, way to make a guy feel inferior,” Tony grumbled. He was kidding, but the faint smile and silence shared between Loki and Bucky had him questioning whether or not there was something to it after all. Tch. Great. The last thing they needed was a budding friendship between two of the most fucked up minds in the tower. Tony was thinking they hadn’t received the memo. Whatever. He rolled his eyes and pushed it out of mind, carrying Loki out of the training room with Steve hot on his heels, blood marking their footsteps. If this was Bucky and Loki’s idea of common ground, then Tony was terrified to see what would happen when they actually got friendly with each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irritated with Steve, Bucky, and himself, more importantly, Tony stumbled after the two of them before he gave up and put full control in Jarvis's disembodied hands. Everything was a vague sort of blur, tinged through with the disgusting taste of vomit and anger. One thing he did recognize though was that whatever fucked up common ground he'd been sharing with Steve's loopy boyfriend had suddenly gotten way more uneven on his end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..........Interpret as you wish. By which I means the intentions of certain peeps, and their responses to shit.

Tony first heard the shout of pain in the height of battle. They were facing Doom's maniacal creations, the disturbing armored replicas of himself that Tony not so affectionately thought of as rip off's of his own designs, when the cry came through the coms they all wore, letting them communicate as a team. Why he didn't think anything of it then, he didn't know. But he had ignored it, until later. The fight was over, leaving nothing save the smoking carnage, and then it came again. Louder this time, followed up with a horrible screeching noise. 

"Uh, Steve?" Flipping up the visor of his suit, he met the captain's steely blue gaze and saw it glimmering with concern. "Alright, head count. Which of us are eating dust for dinner, and who's still functioning enough for a celebratory team outing for shawarma? I need protein, asap." Tony waited, holding a forefinger against the tiny earpiece. First Bruce's confirmation came through, then Natasha, Clint's. Thor's was way too boisterous, all things considered, but it was still an answer. Which left only the two pseudo-Avengers unanswered for.

Apparently that realization came to him and Steve at the same time, because the blond immediately jumped into action, his whole hand held over the communicator as he worriedly looked around, surveying the shrapnel covered street. "Bucky? Loki? Do you read?" Bitter silence. Then Tony heard it again. A scream that rattled him to the core, garbled with agony and yet fully recognizable to them both. 

"Loki!" It died off with another disturbing screech, like metal being scratched at by sharp claws, with a breathless grunt following it up. Either Loki couldn't hear him, and was unable to get word back to them--or he was so fucked up that proper speech was an issue. Either way, like hell Tony was gonna stand around and wait to find out. "Jarvis! I need coordinates, stat!"

'I apologize Sir, but Mister Laufeyson's earpiece is no longer functioning. However, I am picking up a signal nearby. Would you like me to trace that instead?'

Another signal-- "That could be Bucky," Steve interjected. "Jarvis, find out where he is." Spotting the angry stare Tony immediately turned on him, he beat him to the punch and cut off his complaints. Lucky him, because Tony had plenty to offer. "Bucky and Loki have been practically glued to each other's sides for the past few months. There's a good chance if we find one, the other will be with him." 

Right. Leave it to Spangles to use logic like that. Tony grunted, shutting his face-plate again with a clank. "You heard him, J. Lead the way." And god help Steve if he was wrong. 

Of course he wasn't. Because when did America's favorite boy scout ever get to be wrong? The closer they got to the signal, the more readings that came in, flashing before his face in scarlet red and neon blue. Maybe he couldn't get a read on Loki, but Bucky's signal was coming in loud and clear, with that special little thrum from the whir of his metal arm. The arm Tony would one day get to take apart, play around with. Not the time though. There were more important things to think about. Like his lover's location, and his health. If anything had happened to him, there would be hell to pay. First Thor would kill him, and then Tony...well, he had enough emotional issues on the table already. He didn't need any more. 

When they got close enough for the signal to be coming in loud and clear, Tony saw exactly where it was coming from. "Oh--fuck," he breathed, hearing Steve's curse beside him. There was a former building standing where the signal was supposedly coming from, turned to broken glass and shards of metal, twisted beyond recognition with scorch patterns smudging their surfaces. It was all so black and grungy, Tony almost missed Steve's boyfriend. Then he saw what the former assassin was crouched beside, and, more importantly, what he was doing. It almost made him sick. 

Steve had been right about him and Loki being together. But what neither of them had likely counted on was the latter's physical state being so---shit, he was just fucked up. Tony couldn't string it together eloquently, wouldn't even try. There was blood everywhere, drenching Loki's pale body and its battle leathers. It turned the ground beneath him a dull garnet, as well as Bucky's hands, currently wrapped around a piece of metal warped into a lance like shape that had speared the trickster's shoulder. 

"Holy shit!" Ignoring the shouts beside him, and the hand that tried to grab his forearm, Tony shot himself forward with his repulsors and landed with a harsh thunk beside the two men. Bucky barely spared him a glance, but Loki was practically unconscious, only coming alive when the metal embedded in his shoulder was tugged at, blood sluggishly flowing down his arm. "Loki? Lokes, talk to me." Tony all but tore his face plate off and went down on his knees beside the god. If Loki noticed, the only sign was his bleary gaze turning towards him. Shit, he looked awful. "Baby, I really need you to talk to me right now. Alright?" Reaching for a gore smeared cheek, Tony leaned closer, needing to assess the damage. "Say something. Anything! I have to know how you're--"

"Don't touch him." The stoic admonishment from Bucky startled him, and Tony unconsciously jumped, looking at the ex soldier. He stared back with impossibly blue eyes laced through with ice, until they dropped to hand he had reached out to Loki and narrowed irritably. "Don't touch him, Stark. I have to get this out."

Uh--what? Say what now? "Take that out, and he'll bleed to death!" Tony glared at the brunette. "You should know that better than anyone." And he wasn't about to take the advice of a mentally unstable, formerly brainwashed Hydra agent. He'd seen the way Bucky and Loki went at it when they 'trained.' Loki could take a punch, but this was way more than that. Even gods could suffer major blood loss. 

"He won't. Loki can heal himself." Taking the metal in both hands, Bucky shared a look with Loki's zoned out person before he wrenched it upwards. The god's scream nearly threw Tony backwards, but he responded quickly, grabbing at the both of them. He shouted profanities and curses that all but flew over Bucky's head, until he shoved Tony back with his gloved hand. "I said don't touch him," Bucky growled. 

"Yeah, well, I don't take orders from you," Tony snapped, focusing his attention on his lover. Loki's cries had ebbed away, but the gaunt hollows of his cheeks and unusually white skin had him worried. "Lokes? Fuck--listen to me, alright? I'm gonna get you out of here. We'll get you back to the tower and set you right." He made to scoop the trickster up, but silver and black fingers closed around his wrist, threateningly clenching down tight. Goddammit. "Seriously? I don't have time for this, and neither does Loki! Let go, Barnes, before I do something we'll both regret." 

"Tony!" Steve came running out of the plumes of dust engulfing the building ruins. He'd lost his mask at some point, and his shield was safely stowed in the holsters on his back. "Is Loki alright? What happened?" Stopping dead in his tracks before the trio, he looked each one of them over with a frown that steadily deepened as he crossed his arms in true 'Cap fashion and honed in on all the little details. "...Bucky. What's going on?" 

Oh sure, ask him first. That figured. Tony guessed that the bros before hoes card didn't really apply in their cases, but still! Who was more trustworthy here? "Your boyfriend won't let me take mine for medical attention," he ground out, gesturing to his bleeding out lover lying amiss all the rubble. "In case you couldn't tell, he's sort of bleeding. EVERYWHERE!" 

"Yes, Tony, I can see that. Look, just calm down. Everything will be fine." Turning to his stern faced boyfriend, who still had his hands wrapped around the metal pierced through Loki's shoulder, Steve smiled. It was soft, almost placating. "Buck...we need to get out of here. We'll take Loki with us, but we need to go, alright?" 

Dammit Steve. Always too nice for his own good. "This is no time for the TLC act! Maybe you don't give a shit about our friends, but Loki's MY boyfriend and I'm getting him the hell out of here!" Tony made to push them both away, grab Loki up and take off, but Bucky surprised them both by climbing to his feet and sharply wrenching his arms upward. The metal in Loki shrieked, then gave away with a fleshy noise that almost made him throw up. Almost. 

Loki's arm all but falling off did that. 

While Tony was heaving and spitting a mouthful of half digested food and stomach acid on the ground, Loki was gasping wetly, blood flecking his chin and lips. Steve's surprised shout didn't stop him from half curling on his side as he pressed a hand surrounded by emerald light to the wound--if you could even call it that. That made it seem so minimal. "A-Anthony," Loki gasped, roughly gripping the spot, "control yourself! Your antics aren't he-helping anyone!!"

Right. He was right. Except Tony could barely look at the mass of blood and pulpy flesh that marked where the trickster's shoulder used to be without feeling sick again. He'd seen a lot of shit, being a superhero and all. Half charred flesh, broken bones, and several fatal wounds that made anything in a horror movie look PG. But most of the time people with wounds that grievous were, you know, DEAD, and here Loki was, breathing and trying to fucking get to his feet. God, there wasn't even a speck of normalcy in his life, was there? 

"Babe...babe, don't. Stay down," Tony gasped, wiping at his mouth. He could handle this. Steve was helping out, steadying him as he slowly sat up and tried not to hurl again, but one glance toward their friendly neighborhood assassin and Tony shrugged him off. The last thing he wanted was to be seen as weak in front of the likes of Bucky. "I'm fine! I'm...fine. Lokes? Are you ok? I can help, just give me a second." 

"Don't bother." Frost blue eyes fell on him, unusually bright in the shadows. Cold didn't equal emotionless though, and he saw one too many things in the pale azure for his personal comfort. Looping an arm around Loki's waist, Bucky supported his weight and started leading him away. "I've got him."

"Like hell you do! Hey!" Tony scrambled to his feet and took after them, despite the unnerving sense of vertigo it gave him. It was only Steve grabbing him, pulling him back that kept him from ripping Loki from Bucky's hold. Or, more likely, collapsing himself. Not that he'd ever admit that as a possibility. "Dammit, Barnes, where are you going?" 

"Tony, calm down!" Steve's concern grounded him, gluing him to the spot while he watched Loki get led away down the street, still healing his damaged shoulder. "It'll be fine. Loki will be fine. Ok? He just needs to heal himself. You know how that works."

Yeah, because that made him feel so much better. "Shut up Steve! I know!" Irritated with Steve, Bucky, and himself, more importantly, Tony stumbled after the two of them before he gave up and put full control in Jarvis's disembodied hands. Everything was a vague sort of blur, tinged through with the disgusting taste of vomit and anger. One thing he did recognize though was that whatever fucked up common ground he'd been sharing with Steve's loopy boyfriend had suddenly gotten way more uneven on his end.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "In case you didn't hear me right, let me spell things out for you. Your former assassin is attracted to my mischief maker!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony's paranoid and jealous. Steve has no time for any of that.

"Your boyfriend totally has the hots for mine." Judging by the exasperated look on Steve's face, he was pretty tired of hearing it. But Tony wasn't letting this drop. Not a chance. "Oh come on! You've seen the way they act around each other! You said it yourself, remember? They've been glued to each other's sides since day one!"

"So have you and Bruce. Does that mean you feel an attraction towards him?" Steve rolled his eyes, smudging a line of charcoal on the drawing pad he had balanced on his knees. Tony glowered at him. How he was able to focus on his sketching when they had this crisis on their hands was beyond him. "Tony, two people can spend time together without it being a love affair. Why does this bother you so much anyway?" 

Seriously? "Why doesn't it bother YOU? In case you didn't hear me right, let me spell things out for you. Your former assassin is attracted to my mischief maker!" Tony wrenched the pad and pencils out of Steve's hands, roughly shaking his shoulder. "Bucky likes LOKI!"

Sighing heavily, Steve stared back at him. "Tony, what exactly is your point? Of course Bucky likes Loki. Frankly, they have a lot in common. Why shouldn't they get along?" He stole back his supplies and focused on his drawing, rather than the inventor giving him a stupefied expression. "You're making a mountain out of a molehill. Again." 

"Please tell me you're joking." There was no way Steve could be that clueless. Tony refused to accept that. Steve was a lot of things, including a patriotic pain in his ass, but there was absolutely no possibility that he was blind enough not to see what was going on right under his nose. "Rogers, this isn't one of our normal tower friendships! I'm telling you, there's more to it!"

"Like what? What exactly do you think is going on, Tony? Because to me, it sounds like you don't trust Loki to remain loyal to you." 

Uh oh. Steve was giving him that look. Tony hated when he got that holier than thou, chastising thing going on. "Where the hell did you get an idea like that? Of course I trust Loki! I stood up for him when nobody else would, didn't I?" Tony glowered at his friend. "Who advocated for him to be released into our custody? Who said he deserved a second chance, when everyone else wanted to toss him into prison?" 

"Which has nothing to do with the situation at hand," Steve retorted. He shut his drawing book and packed away his pencils, frowning ear to ear. "To me, it really sounds like you don't trust in him. And if that's the case, then maybe you should be reevaluating your own relationship instead. Not the friendship between Bucky and Loki." 

Tony couldn't believe it. Steve Rogers, the paragon of goodness and loyalty, was actually advocating this! Gawking at the man's back, he tried to wrap his mind around it all, but the gears were off their spikes, and practically pinwheeling. "Fuck-" this was really happening. "Rogers, you've gone off the deep end. I know you're all for pampering your long lost bestie, but this is beyond psychotic. You can't just let him be--!" 

"Tony, you can think whatever you want. This is your problem to work out anyway." Steve left him standing there, though he called out over his shoulder, a fine line of amusement threaded through his voice. "And for the record, Bucky and I aren't an item. But even if we were, I wouldn't try to control who he could and couldn't be friends with. He can like whoever he wants. Either way, I'll support him. Maybe that's something you should think about."

"Control?? I don't try to control Loki!" He was just looking out for him. Yeah. Tony jerkily stuffed his hands in his pockets, scuffing his foot against the floor. That's all he was doing. Steve could take a leaf out of his book, and keep a better eye on his metal armed friend. Particularly when he and Loki were both involved.


End file.
